My name is John Buckley and 40 years ago I was serving with the 504th Military Police Battalion in Vietnam when the TET Offensive broke out. After reflecting about that battle, I decided to write down my recollections of those days for a couple of reasons. First of all, I would like my children to have some sort of record of what their Dad said and did during those times, and second, to my knowledge, the combat exploits of the Military Police in Vietnam have never been really documented. I therefore wrote the attached story about 3 days in my life, and in the lives of the men of "A" Company, 504th MP Battalion" in January 1998—the 30th Anniversary of TET. It was printed in the Washington Times and the Military Police Regimental Magazine.

"TET" 1968 Remembered

The majority of stories that I have read about the Tet Offensive of 1968 would lead the reader to believe that the Tet Offensive began on January 31, 1968. Of course, that is when Saigon was hit. To most of the media, and the television listeners in the United States, Saigon was Vietnam, and certainly, what happened in Saigon was always worthy of prime time news. Therefore, history will record that when Saigon was attacked, the Tet Offensive of 1968 began. However, like a lot of events in history, that wasn’t the correct date or the correct city. The Tet Offensive began shortly after midnight on January 30, 1968 when all hell broke loose in the city of Nha Trang, South Vietnam. Nha Trang is a city along the coast of Vietnam that was, in 1968, the home of "A" Company of the 504th Military Police Battalion—with which I was serving. The MP’s considered Nha Trang "their" city. We patrolled it 24 hours a day and protected it against countless incursions form Viet Cong sapper squads and terrorist attacks. As midnight approached on January 29, the MP’s could take satisfaction in the fact that they had done a damn fine job. However, within minutes all that ended. Shortly after midnight, mortar and rocket rounds rained down upon the city of Nha Trang, the Nha Trang airport, and Camp McDermott, base camp of the 504th. This shelling was no great surprise, as these attacks had occurred many times before. They usually lasted a short period of time, until the attackers were pinpointed. Then the enemy either escaped into the jungle or was killed by artillery or planes. The early morning of January 30, 1968 was different. The mortar and rocket rounds were only a prelude to what was to come. As the enemy air attack lifted, shadows came forth from darkened alleys, from the doors of commandeered houses, and from the bowels of the gigantic statue of Buddha that sat at the edge of the city. These shadows were members of the regular North Vietnamese forces who had infiltrated Nha Trang several days prior to January 30. Within minutes, MP patrols came under direct fire from the invading troops. Right outside of Nha Trang, those of us who were off-duty were taking cover from the incoming rounds slamming down on Camp McDermott. Over crackling radios, we heard that the guys on duty were under attack in the city. Within minutes, all off-duty MP’s were in jeeps and trucks headed toward Nha Trang. Despite our adrenaline rushes, most MP’s had been in enough skirmishes with the Viet Cong that even as we rushed to aid our comrades, we didn’t think this was anything different from other incursions. As we drove the few miles from the base camp to Nha Trang, we saw tracers cutting the night. Our buddies had been hit during the first attack and the radio was screaming that Charlie was everywhere. This was different! Turning into the heart of the city, we knew we were in for it. Our first squad came under fire at Marie Kim Circle as we headed for the MP station. Fire was coming from the rooftops and from behind trees on the north side of the street. We leapt from our truck, taking cover in the alleys, and returned fire. It lasted for hours! We couldn’t believe so many enemy troops had entered Nha Trang without anyone seeing or hearing anything—and worse yet, they had captured our city. The battle continued into the daylight hours. Again, this was different; prior to this night, encounters with the enemy usually had dissolved as dawn approached. Around midmorning, the MP’s at Marie Kim Circle were called upon to rescue a detachment of MP’s from the 272 MP unit, who were surrounded and under fire in a building across town. The 504th came up from behind the enemy and counter attacked with automatic weapon fire. The communists were caught in a crossfire and within a short period of time, destroyed. The fighting slowed down that afternoon and we took advantage of the respite to catch a quick nap and to get more ammunition. As dusk approached on January 30, we had made our way to the MP station and were digging in for a long night. In the heart of Nha Trang stood the MP station—a two-story building built by the French in the early 1950’s. Intelligence reports received during the day clearly indicated that the MP station was one of the few North Vietnamese Army targets for the night of January 30-31 that had not fallen into the hands of the North Vietnamese. The city itself was basically under NVA control—except, for that lone MP station. That night, inside the building, we knew we were surrounded. We had been informed by Intelligence that the NVA would be attacking that night in full force in an attempt to overrun our station. Of course, we also remembered that this was the same Intelligence Unit that had informed everyone weeks earlier that what was happening, could not happen. There were nervous jokes about the "Alamo." But all in all, we knew the situation was precarious. We stared out into the night from the rooftop and window of the station, anticipating the attack. Sporadic gunfire was received and returned but there was no clue as to when the main attack would take place. It was during this time that an event took place which changed the outcome of the evening. One of the MP patrols that was scouting the perimeter around the station captured an NVA officer. This officer was brought back to the station where he was interrogated by South Vietnamese officers. Eventually, he blurted out the exact location of the main body of the NVA and when it was planning to attack. This information was forwarded to the helicopter gun-ships which were in the area. I had been on the roof of the MP station for most of the evening, lying on my stomach, staring out at the darkness in front of me and searching for the shadows that would signal that the attack had begun. All of a sudden, I heard this awful noise from behind me. Rolling over on my back, I saw two gun-ships coming straight at me and flying just above rooftop level. The pilots had been given the coordinates of the NVA (which was straight ahead of us) and fired their rockets. I watched as the rockets came flying over me, followed shortly by the choppers. Rolling back on my stomach, I saw the rockets slamming into their intended target area. Then the gun-ships opened up with automatic weapon fire on the coordinates provided to them. This was the beginning of the end of any attempted NVA assault. We stayed at the MP station the rest of the night returning sporadic fire but never received the main assault that had been planned. Daylight brought some calm, and the firing dissipated as the defeated enemy slunk out of the city and back into jungle hiding places. However, for the victorious MP’s, Tet was not over. Word came down to the "MP’s at the Alamo" that half the company was to pack all their gear; they were being sent north to another battle. The remaining half of the company would stay in Nha Trang to mop up any leftover resistance and would be supported by units that were coming into the city from other locations in the south. I was in the half that was sent out. In full battle gear, we were loaded on a C-130 and flown north shortly before nine on the evening of February 1. Prior to leaving Nha Trang, the MP jeeps were backed onto the plane (combat parked). This would prove to be extremely important. A little after take-off, I was standing by the cockpit talking with the pilot and co-pilot about the battle in Nha Trang, when the night sky lit up in front of us with tracers. The communists were firing with automatic weapons toward the flight path of the plane in hopes of shooting us down. Without a moment’s hesitation, the pilot banked the plane to the right and flew out over the South China Sea. At a safe distance from land, he resumed his northward journey until he reached his destination. At that spot, he banked the plane to the left and once again crossed over Vietnamese territory. We had learned on the plane that we were going to a place called Phu Bai (which meant nothing to us) to be attached to the 3rd Marine Division. As we started our descent, I once again saw tracers lighting up the night. The pilot yelled that Phu Bai was under attack but that he was not going to abort the landing. He yelled for the MP’s to start the jeeps and be ready to go as soon as he touched down—because he wasn’t stopping!!! It was around midnight when the wheels touched down. The pilot immediately dropped the rear door of the plane and six jeeps (which had been combat parked upon loading) drove off the plane, into the unknown darkness as the C-130 kept speeding down the runway. At the other end of the runway, the plane took off, leaving us in our jeeps, in the dark, on a tarmac in a place we’d never heard of, with our hearts pounding, our adrenaline flowing, with no sense of where the closest cover was, and with rockets and mortars raining down on our heads. We soon found cover, and the Marines got a good laugh out of the "lost Army guys" looking for shelter. We would find out in a few hours that this Marine base camp was 10 kilometers south of the city of Hue, where a fierce battle was being fought. Over the next few weeks, the MP’s were assigned to run convoys of Marines up and down Highway 1 while the battle raged. Some of these MP’s, myself included, eventually were pulled out of Phu Bai and reassigned in the city of Hue itself. The Hue and Phu Bai MP’s were under constant danger and attacks were daily. However, we kept Highway 1 open and gained the respect of all Marine and Army units assigned to that area.

This letter is in response to John Buckley's letter about the 504th during the 1968 "Tet". It was written by Dragon Fighter Dave Heck.

I too, am disappointed that more has not been written about the efforts of the Military Police during the Tet offensive. His letter was right on. I was there. Some things to add however. Right before midnight on January 29th ? about 100 to 150 VC with automatic weapons walked right past the PMO (latter known as the Alamo) and attacked a South Vietnamese Army installation further down the street. There was a guard post out in front of the PMO and the MP on duty there saw them coming. He got down on the floor and rang the field phone to the front desk inside. He told the desk sergeant, "hey sarg, I don't know what is gong on out here but there is about 150 guys coming down the street with automatic weapons". Paul Deaner went outside to see and immediately came back in and put everyone on alert. That group walked right past the guard shack with the MP lying on the floor and attacked the ARVN installation further down the street. I do not know what the installation was. I had just come off duty earlier and we were immediately sent back to the PMO to reinforce it. The 5th Special Forces Group HQ was in Nha Trang and they told us they were going to shoot anything that moved, so we gave them plenty of room when we drove to the PMO. We made it OK but the other guys (with John Buckley) were pinned down. Too much to write about here, but after that first several days of Tet the first group of Company A was sent north. The platoon I was in was sent north several days later. We landed at Phu Bai and our platoon was split up. Two squads (of which I was apart of) loaded on helicopters and sent to the 1st Air Cav Division north of Hue. We were attached to the 545th MP Co, 1st Air Cav Div. We stayed with them for about 3 months. Later we rejoined the rest of our platoon and were assigned to Hue City. Our platoon was in Hue until I think it was "C" company relieved us sometime in November. Our job while attached to the 545th was mainly convoy escort along highway 1. We ran convoys from Dong Ha to Camp Evans and to PK17. I read John's account of that first night with great interest. It brought back a lot of memories. The company commander of the 545th MP Co, Copt. Maynard D. Eaves, told our squad we would each receive an ARCOM and a CIB. As far as I know, no one ever received their awards. That's beside the point. The point is, Military Policemen all over the country did a "hell" of a job during the Tet Offensive and have never received very much credit for what we did. If you have an address or e-mail address for Mr. John Buckley, I certainly would appreciate getting it. I would like to get in touch with him. Thank you for putting his letter on the web. If you have any questions or details you want answered about Co A's fight in Nha Trang during the 68 Tet Offensive, just let me know. I will be glad to reply. My name is M. David Heck Jr. I served in Company "A" from 1 Jan 68 to 25 Dec 68. My e-mail address is Vetdriver2@aol.com. Question? What became of A Company? Did it become the 66th MP Co.? If you know, please e-mail me. Thank you.